One of the most important aspects of a portable radio is its external housing. In the public safety arena, the external housing must provide ruggedness under a variety of environments, such as firefighting and rescue operations, chemically hazardous surroundings, and harsh weather conditions. The exterior housing must also be easy to assemble and cost effective. Currently most public safety radios utilize a single external radio housing that is injection molded utilizing a two-step over-molding process comprising an injection molded polymer and then an overmolded polymer. The overmolding processes involve very high pressures and high temperatures, and thus the choice of materials for the initial injection molded polymer is limited as not all injection molded polymers can be subjected to overmolding processes. If a unique material property is required, high temperature resistance for example, it is not likely that an overmolded housing can be created for this purpose.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have an improved housing assembly that provides ruggedness and ease of assembly for the public safety radio market without the use of an overmolded material or process.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.